1225 Summer
<Chronicle Drawings of the inside of Elezar’s Reggio made by Yulo * Entrance q8 * Altar & bowl with ____ q4 * Blood bowl q1 * Pit w/ Chandelier q10 * Copy of the Mural w/ Elazar masked q7 * Corpse w/ Amulet & back wounds/scars q5 * Throne room w/ Terracota pots q8 Since Ellis wasn’t able to make it to the session we decided to run the adventures of Tepa and Yulo in Sladas. The others of the group were Urg and Ferrantte the scout. This took place in the summer of 1225. The group headed of the La Fiore. When they arrived, they found that the town was still deserted, and that nature had started to reclaim the town. The Covenant never told the people of La Fiore that the wolves had been stopped. The group spent a night at the abandoned Inn. The next day the group headed towards the witch’s hut outside of Sladas. When they arrived at the hut they saw that the Witch’s body had been overrun with grass and vines. So much so that they group had difficulty telling what plants were from the ground and what plants were growing out of the witch. When Yulo used his magic sensitivity, he felt a small ping inside the mass of plants. When they searched through the plants they found a small red flower growing. It was this flower that was making the ping go off, and it appeared that it was growing off the witch. They decided to leave the flower and look over it when they came back from Sladas. They traveled into the cave that leads to Sladas and on the Sladas side of the cave they found that the boulder that Paulo had used to block off the opening had been pushed over a little to allow a small opening. It was this opening the Mungo, Ferrantte, and the cartographer used when they toured Sladas last year. However, since they had Urg he used his great reserves of strength to push to boulder away from the opening. Sladas had changed since the group had been there to stop the Wolves. The fields that had been burned to ash, were grown back to fields of grass. As they traveled towards the Kingdom of Sladas, they noticed that the road had been repaired, but the most outlying farms were gone. No rubble, no people, just empty grasslands. It wasn’t until they got much closer to town that they saw any farms, and those farms were not as large or prosperous as the ones the group saw before the fires years ago. The group made it into town and headed to the castle. When they arrived inside the castle courtyard they told a guard that they were the Weavers and they had come to see the king. The guard said that people had come before claiming to be weavers and couldn’t weave magic, so could the Weaver please prove it by weaving magic. Tepa cast a simple spell and created a small flower in the castle ccourtyard. They guard immediately led them into the castle Keep. He led them into a room near the door and told them that he would have food, drinks and water to clean themselves after their long journey. The servants who brought the group these things, told the group that a guard would come for them shortly to escort them to the King. About an hour later a guard took them to the royal courtroom. Just before they entered the courtroom they saw that the three stone Murals above the door (the mountain with a crack running down it and glowing red stones embed in the crack, a mural that was a Sladas farm and the field of grain was inlayed with glowing yellow stones, and the last Mural was the forest and the leaves were set with glowing green stones) that adorned the wall around the doors to the courtroom had a new addition added to them. The new Mural showed at the base of the doorway snarling, baying, wolves and further up the doorway the wolves were cowering, because groups of robed people with glowing stones for eyes and hands appeared to be commanding the wolves to turn away. When the group entered the royal court they saw the king sitting on his throne. The fire and energy he showed during the war was gone and a tired old man was all that was left. King Sladas “What brings the weaver and their friends to my kingdom?” Tepa “ King Sladas you promised that you would let use join in the Choosing for some of your magical Horses. That is why we have come.” King Sladas” Ah yes, I did promise that. Unfortunately, I cannot keep that promise. I cannot give what I do not have. For the choosing ritual to happen, there is a special plant that is needed. The Somvaka plant was destroyed in the war. We do not have any spares. The original Somvaka plants were a gift from the Toltevs many generations ago, and we have not seen any Toltev’s since the war. I am afraid my kingdom will not be as prosperous as before. Althoug no one has seen a wlof or a Toltev the people are still afraid to go back to farming in the fields. Also, my daughter has not gotten any better. She stares at nothing for long periods of time, and when she isn’t staring she will scream for hours on end. I fear if she does not get better soon she will soon die.” Tepa “ Ah, I am sorry to her about your daughter. Although, I am not skilled in healing away madness, I will ask my fellow weaver if they can help her. Sladas “Thank you any help would be greatly appreciated.” Tep ” Is it possible could you have someone show me to the fields where the Somvaka plants grew?” King Sladas “Yes, I will have a guard take you the stable master. He can show you where the Somvaka once grew.” The group was shown to the stables. They were the largest (25+ horses), and best kept stables (stone floors in the hallway leading to the stables, and each horse had its’ own stable) any of them had ever seen. A shorter (most Sladans are easily 6ft tall), older, bow legged, man walked to the group and introduced himself as the Stablemaster. Stablemaster “Who are you, and what can I do for you?” Tepa “I am the Weaver Tepa. King Sladas told us that all of the Somvaka plants were destroyed by the fires during the war. I was wondering if you could show us the field that the plant used to grow in.” Stablemaster “Yes I can show you were the plants used to grow. Come with me.” As they were walking to the fields, Yulo began to talk to the Stablemaster. During the conversation the Stablemaster kept saying things that almost set Yulo off, but the Stablemaster would always say something that kept Yulo from snapping. Yulo “You’a had very good stables. You take’a good care of horses. Your’a stables are very nice.” StableMaster “Of course I do! What good is a horse if it is not well treated. After all, horses are servants to men (Yulo twitched at that), and it’s a piss-poor master who can’t even take care of a horse! (Yulo’s hand is creeping towards his knife) Keep them fed, clean and healthy! Do that and they will always become magnificent animals. (Yulo’s hand drops away from his knife) Yulo ”I hope I do not see anyone beating the horses.” Stablemaster “ A horse has to be broken in. It’s negligent not to! (Yulo’s hand is creeping back towards his knife) A horse must be taught discipline! (the hand is now grasping the knife handle) Yes! Hard Discipline! (the Knife is inching it’s way out of the sheath) Not Abuse! (the knife stops). Abuse a horse and it becomes worthless! Any man who abuses a horse is Scum! I’ll not have it in my stables! (Yulo puts the knife away) About this time the group arrives at the fields where the Somvaka used to grow. The field is a large, grassy, fenced in area. It has a few horses running around freely. StableMaster “This is the field that the Somvaka used to grow in. As you can see there’s not a single one of them left. I am a busy man and I can’t spend all day just looking at a field, so good day!” Tepa walks out into the field and starts digging in the field to see if she can find any possible roots from the plant that might have survived the fire. Unfortunately, she doesn’t find anything. So she asks one of the horses if they know anything about the Somvaka plant. Unfortunately, the horses also don’t know anything about the plant. Since the group couldn’t get any more info just standing around in the field, they decided to go the castle library and see if the head librarian could help them. When they arrived at the library, they saw it wasn’t huge library. It was only about twice as large as the covenant library. There wer a few clerks moving back and forth from tables and shelves copying books. Near the back of the library there was a raised dais and seated at a desk on that dais was an old man who was busy looking at three different books and occasionally writing notes. The group stopped one of the clerks and asked him if he knew anything about the Somvaka plant. The clerk told them that the head Librarian might know about it and pointed to the man on the raised dais. So the group headed towards the back. When they got there Tepa walked up the dais and politely coughed. The head Librarian did not look up from his studies. Tepa (quietly) Excuse me, do you know anything about the Somvaka plant?” The head Librarian still didn’t look up. Tepa (A little louder) “Um excuse me.” No response (a little louder) “Excuse me.” Still nothing (this time in a loud clear voice) “Excuse me do you” at this point the head Librarian slams his hands down on the table and screams. Librarian “QUIET!!! THIS IS A LIBRARY!!!” Tepa (quietly this time) “I’m sorry I was just wondering if you had a book about the Somvaka plant?” At this point the head librarian stops looking at Tepa and furiously begins to scribble on a paper in front of him. After just a few seconds he thrusts a page towards Tepa. Librarian (with rapid fire speed) “The Toltev’s gave it to us many centuries ago. It was destroyed during the war, and no one has seen a Toltev since the war. No, I don’t know where you can find one. That is a picture of the plant. Best of luck! Now leave me alone! I’m very busy!” The page showed a small flowering plant with jagged petals. The flowers were colored yellow in the center of the bud and slowly turned to a blood red at the tips. It was getting late so the group decided to spend the night at the castle. During the night, the group heard the Princess screaming. Yulo bolted out of his room and ran towards her room. Tepa having been awakened by the screaming heard Yulo’s door slam open so she ran after him. Yulo burst into the Princess’s room to find a pair of guards trying to restrain her on her bed. Yulo” Stop’a! Stop’a! Why are you hurting her!!” Guard “We’re trying to keep her from hurting herself!” Being back in this room and hearing the Princess screaming brought back all the memories Yulo had when Slivanius pulled the memories from her mind. He barely rolled high enough to not start stabbing the guards. However, he did pull out his knife and kept screaming at the guards. Yulo “You let’a her go! Let’a her go, or I will hurt you!” By this time Tepa has arrived. Tepa “Yulo! No stop! Yulo! Yulo I know you don’t like this. I will stop them from hurting her, but I need you to put your knife away. Please Yulo! Please trust me!” Yulo grudgingly put his knife away. Tepa ”I am the Weaver Tepa. Please allow me to try and help the Princess. If you let me help I can promise that Yulo will not attack you.” The guards allowed Tepa to get closer to the Princess, who was still screaming and trashing on the bed. As Tepa got close she could see that the Princess was in bad shape. Although she was wearing clean clothes and didn’t have any caked on filth on her, she had become thinner, her lips were bruised, and clumps of her hair had been ripped out. But, the worst thing was that on the sides of her head and face there were the kind of scars one gets when a person tries to claw away their own flesh. Tepa was able to cast a simple mentem spell that removed a single emotion for a sun duration. The princess stopped trashing and although she stopped screaming, she would still whimper every once and a while. The guards thanked Tepa. Tepa and Yulo left the Princess’s rooms. When they got back to their own rooms Yulo asked Tepa a question. Yulo “Tepa… Could I sleep on the floor in your room? I…um…I may need you to help me from doing something bad. Tepa “Of course Yulo.” The next morning the King summoned the group to the throne room again. Unlike yesterday the king had a kind of energy about him. He didn’t seem quite as broken down as before. King Sladas “I have been informed that you were able to help my daughter last night.” Tepa “Yes I was able to ease her anguish for a short while.” King Sladas “What would it take to have you stay as a retainer to my court and help my daughter.” Tepa “I am sorry. It is not possible for me to do that. The spell I cast only helped for a short time, and there is a chance that if keep casting that spell it could go wrong and do more harm than good. However, one of the other weavers might be able to create an artifact that could help her. As soon as I am done searching for the Somvaka plant I will see if my fellow Weaver can help her. My friends and I are going to go into the forest and see if we can get the Toltev’s to give us another Somvaka plant. I was wondering if we were able to contact the Toltev would you be willing to meet with them to perhaps set up a trade with them?” King Sladas “No! I will never trust another Toltev ever again! My daughter trusted them and looked at what happened to her! Look at what happened to my people!” Tepa” But your majesty the Toltev’s that hurt the Princess and waged war upon your kingdom were destroyed. The Toltev’s we are speaking of had nothing to do with that.” King Sladas “Nothing? Nothing?! Oh yes! They were great at doing nothing! They did nothing to warn us about the attack on my daughter. They did nothing to try and stop the wolves! No! I will have nothing to do with them! (after this outburst the king seemed to lose all that hopeful energy from before. He looked even more tired and broken down) King Sladas “Weaver Tepa, You and your people have done me a great service. If you find the Somvaka plant I will make sure you are the first ones for the choosing ritual. If you save my daughter I will be overjoyed, but do not speak of the Toltev’s again. Now please leave me. So the group decided that the only people who knew anything about the Somvaka plant were the Toltev’s. So, they decide to try and find the Toltev’s that are hiding in the forest and see if they can get the Somvaka plant from them. They made it to the forest without any problems. Using Ferrante’s scouting skills they were able to make it back to the good Toltev campsite. But, upon searching it they found that the campsite hadn’t been used for a long time. After more scouting around the campsite they found three different paths. One led to the cave of knives (the trial to gain the Toltev’s respect that Paulo lost), the other one they believed led back towards where the large magical Boar lived, and the final one led deeper into the forest in a direction the group had never traveled before. After some debate they decided to take the third path. After traveling on the path for a short while they came upon a clearing. After using an awareness check they realized that the background animal sounds were missing from this part of the forest. Tepa rolled really high and she was able to make out a soft, low, breathing sound. Tepa rolled awareness again and found that the breathing seemd to come from a large, moss covered, stone. Approaching the Stone, the group suddenly realized that the breathing had stopped. Tepa “Um…Hello? Is anyone there?” A whispering voice “Why are you here?” Tepa” We are looking for Toltev.” Whispering Voice “If they do not wish to be found you will never find them. Why do you want them?” Tepa “We are looking for the Somvaka plant. We believe they could tell us where to find it. Um.. I don’t mean to be rude but who are you?” Whispering voice “The Toltev call me “Forest”. Tepa “You are the Spirit of the forest?” Forest” I am aware of all things in my forest, because you haven’t harmed anything in my forest I will tell you about the Somvaka. It does not grow in my forest. The Toltev’s brought with them from the mountains. If you want the plant you must go to the mountains. However, if you harm anything the forest will never let you leave.” With this new knowledge the group headed back to the Toltev campsite. They remembered that the path that led to the boar also led to the mountains. So they decided to take that trail. A little ways into the trail, they rolled a really great awareness check and found a small overgrown game trail that branched off the main trail. They decided to take this small trail. After a few dex rolls, they group was able to make it out of the forest and reach the foothills of the mountains. They began to climb the mountain and finally made it to the summit. Upon reaching the summit they saw that before them was a massive mountain range. However they could only see the peaks of the mountains. The valleys were covered in a thick mist. The peaks upon closer inspection had small villages sitting on top of them ( one had buildings with Pagoda style tops and the people walking around had dog-like faces, another looked like an Italian villa except all of the people as jet black skin, another peak just had a bunch of boulders rolling both up and down the mountain) Ferrante and Yulo decided to go down into the misty valley. Tepa created a vine that they tied around Yulo and Ferrante wore a rope that was attached to a harness that Urg gave to Ferrante. Both of the life lines where being held by Urg. They went down into the valley slowly. Soon the mist became so thick they couldn’t see in front of them. Yulo’s magic sensitivity was starting to give him a really tight headache, but they decided to keep going. Ferrante was in front and Yulo was holding onto the harness behind him. Ferrante took another step and suddenly Yulo felt a hard jerk and Ferrante was gone, and his rope had snapped. Yulo took one of his knives out and carefully lobbed it in front of him. However, he never heard the knife hit anything. He slowly crept back up to the summit and told Urg and Tepa the Ferrante was gone. Tepa rolled a magic theory roll and deduced that the mist was part of the Magic realm. Tepa then rolled and failed a compassion roll. She felt she had to go down there and try to find Ferrante. Yulo went with her. They got back down to the mist and Tepa tried using “Broom of the Winds” Spell to push away the mist. The Mist around and behind them did move away, but the mist in front didn’t budge. Tepa rolled and failed another compassion roll. So she told Yulo that she was goning to step into the mist and try and find Ferrante. Yulo rolled for loyalty and succeeded. He grabbed ahold of her hand and joined her in stepping into the mist. When they stepped into the mist all of their senses, except touch, stopped working. The only things they did experience was that the mist became thick and viscous like water, and that Yulo and Tepa could feel their hands grasped together. Yulo rolled a magic sensitivity roll and felt a pulling sensation in front of him. Pulling Tepa along with him he went towards that feeling. Although, they had no concept of the passage of time, Yulo was beginning to feel tired and the headache was getting worse. Tepa felt his grip on her hand begin to go slack. She squeezed really hard. When he felt that squeeze he gave on last hard pull and suddenly both of them fell onto a stone cobbled road. Yulo was exhausted (he had three long term fatigues). Both of them rolled for awareness and they both saw that a wagon was barreling down the road and was about to hit them. With their last ounce of strength they pulled themselves out of the wagon’s path. Yulo noticed that it wasn’t horses pulling the wagon. But strange creatures. They were slightly smaller than a quarter horse. They were covered in bronze scales. They didn’t have hooves, but had large wickedly curved talons, and their heads looked like a snake’s. Tepa noticed someone walking down the street. Looking carefully she saw that the person had a dog like face and then they both noticed that the roofs of the buildings were pagoda shaped. They had stepped into the magic realm and ended up in a strange new place. Ferrante has been lost to the mists of the Magic Realm. He may come back he may never return. There is no telling how long it will take (or even if it is possible) for Yulo and Tepa to make it back to the known world. Before Yulo and Tepa went down into the mist they told Urg to wait until morning and if they didn’t return he was to return to the covenant. Urg was able to make it out of the forest and is on his way back to the covenant. He will arrive around fall 1225.